


Why Don't You Tell Her That?

by PrehistoricUnicorn



Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: F/M, Fluff, Identity Reveal, Love Confessions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-01
Updated: 2016-10-06
Packaged: 2018-08-18 21:23:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 3,143
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8176517
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrehistoricUnicorn/pseuds/PrehistoricUnicorn
Summary: Chat Noir finally confesses his love for Ladybug, but that isn't good enough for her. He finds himself facing the challenge of proving he knows her.





	1. Your Mission, If You Choose to Accept it...

He said it. He finally said it. From the first time they’d fought together he’d been dying to say it, and now he had. 

He had just told Ladybug; “I love you.”

He was about to burst with happiness, but his smile faded when he realised how unsure she looked. Didn’t she feel the same? Was this too soon? Was it all just a terrible mistake?

Chat Noir looked up at the girl in front of him anxiously. His heart rested in her hands now, and from the slightly pitying look on her face, she was about to crush it.

A minute of agonizing silence passed before Ladybug spoke. 

“Chat Noir…” she said, and his heart stopped. “How can you say you love me, when you don’t even know who I am?”

It took him a minute to process what she said, before a relieved smile lit up his face. If that was all she was worried about, then maybe there was hope after all. 

“My Lady,” he started, but she cut him off. 

“I know what you’re about to say. You’re about to say; ‘I may not know everything about you, but I know enough.’ You’re about to say; ‘You’re beautiful, kind and fearless, and probably a dozen other adjectives.”

Chat Noir stared up at her but didn’t say anything because, well, she was damn close. Was he really that predictable? 

Ladybug sighed. “I’m sorry, Chat Noir, but those words could describe a lot of people. I guess it’s true that, in some ways, you understand me better than anyone, but even you only see one part of me.”

Chat Noir knew he had to say something. “My Lady, I have no doubt that I would love all of you, if you would only let me. In fact, since we met I have sworn to myself that I would love you, no matter who the girl under the mask is.”

For a moment Ladybug looked unsure, but then an amused smile lit up her face. 

Teasingly, she leaned right up to him, so their faces were mere centimetres apart. Chat Noir felt his breath catch. She whispered her next words, still with that same little smile. 

“Why don’t you tell her that?”

Chat Noir blinked, not quite understanding. Seeing his confusion, she elaborated a bit.

“You said you love the girl under the mask, so why are you telling me? Why don’t you tell her? If you really know me enough to say that you love me, then you should recognise me without my mask.”

Still a little unsure, he decided to clarify. 

“Let me get this straight; You’re telling me that I should find the girl who hides behind the mask of Ladybug, and tell her what I’ve just told you?"

Smiling, Ladybug nodded. 

“What if I do? Will her answer be any different?”

Ladybug laughed as she hooked her yoyo around a nearby lamppost. 

“We’ll see, Kitty.” she said, and then she was gone.

Chat Noir grinned as he watched her swing off into the distance, thinking only one thought:

Challenge accepted, My Lady.


	2. Where to Look First?

Adrien was going to scour the world to find her if he had to. Since the previous day, when Ladybug had first posed the challenge to him, it was all he could think about. In fact, he was surprised he hadn’t thought of it himself.

He’d barely been able to sleep that night from excitement. He should have been so tired he could barely stand, but his goal kept him focused. It was so simple! All he had to do was compare everything he knew about Ladybug to every girl in Paris, figure out who she was and ultimately prove his undying love for her. Easy!

The only problem was; there were a lot of girls in Paris. Adrien didn’t let that phase him. Thinking he may as well start somewhere, he began by eliminating the girls in his class one by one as he entered the room. 

Alya? Nah, he’d seen her and Ladybug together too many times when she’d been trying to get a scoop for the Ladyblog. Plus, she’d been akumatised, becoming Lady Wifi, and he didn’t think that could happen to him or Ladybug.

Who else, Mylene? Well, she was kind enough, but he was pretty sure she was too timid and unsure of herself to swing around Paris in a skin-tight body suit. Anyway she had been akumatised also, he remembered Horrificator only too well.

Chloe? No, thank goodness. Battling Lady Wifi had proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that it couldn’t be her. Besides, she had been akumatised too. 

Come to think of it, all the girls in front of Adrien had been akumatised.

Chloe had become Antibug, Sabrina and Vanisher were one and the same, Alix had been Timebreaker, Juleka turned into Reflecta, Rose was Princess Fragrance, and Lila had come scarily close to beating them as Volpina.

Well, no leads here, he thought and walked toward his seat. As he was about to sit down though, he heard a yelp. Surprized, he turned around just in time to catch a startled Marinette. 

Another yelp, and then was stumbling over her words, apologising about a million times in a matter of seconds. 

Adrien just laughed.

“Marinette, are you falling for me?”

Marinette blinked, clearly confused. Now it was his turn to stumble over his words.

“I mean… You see…. What I meant was…” he took a deep breath. “You know what? Never mind.” he eventually said.

He let go of her awkwardly and let her pass so she could take her seat. When he sat down himself, however, something was bothering him. 

Had Marinette ever been akumatised? He thought he would remember fighting her if she had. He shot her a glance. Come to think of it, she did look a little like Ladybug. She had the same dark pigtails and the same blue eyes. The more he thought about it, the more likely it seemed that she could be Ladybug.

Forget scouring the world, was it possible that the love of his life had been right in front of him, well behind him, this whole time? 

At any rate, Adrien decided it was time to get to know Marinette.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I do think Adrien would figure it out as soon as he stopped to think about it.


	3. Back to the Drawing Board

Chat Noir paced back and forth over the rooftop, frustrated. So far, no one but Marinette had even come close to his idea of Ladybug. He had tried several times throughout the day to ‘investigate’ Marinette, but to no avail. 

Sometimes he wished she didn’t have such an enormous crush on him, it made it ridiculously difficult to talk to her. How was he supposed to look for clues as to whether she spent her free time jumping around Paris in magical spandex, if she insists on forgetting what words are every time she sees him?

“Everything okay?” came a voice from behind him, and Chat Noir nearly jumped out of his skin. He had been so deep in thought about his ‘Marinette predicament’ that he forgot what he had been doing on the rooftop in the first place. Quickly, he regained his composure.

“It is now you’re here, My Lady.”

She raised an eyebrow at him.

“Really?” she said, putting her hands on her hips, “because I’ve been here about two seconds and I can already tell your mind is somewhere else.” 

He sighed, and a smirk crept onto her face.

“I take it this is about your quest for the ‘Girl Under the Mask’.” she said knowingly, “What Kitty, no leads? Haven’t you found any strings to chase?”

Chat Noir frowned. It’s like she didn’t really think he would be able to do it.

“Well….” he answered slowly, “I do have one person in mind, it’s just….” he sighed again. “I’m having trouble getting close to her. Any helpful suggestions?”

Ladybug laughed at this.

“Oh no, you’ll get no hints from me. If you really want to find me, you have to do it yourself. Now, come on! We have a city to watch over.” 

With this she leapt off over the rooftops, Chat Noir, as always, not far behind.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Half an hour later, Chat Noir was heading home, extremely hungry and back to thinking about Marinette. 

Due to his enhanced sense of smell, or maybe just his growling stomach, he picked up on the delicious scent of warm cookies. As he drifted toward it, his body want into an almost hypnotic state, controlled only by his nose and increasing appetite.

In no time whatsoever, Chat Noir found himself crouched on top of his school, looking across the street at the very girl who was giving him such a hard time. 

Staring across at her on her balcony, he managed to gather his thoughts long enough to convince the small, rational part of himself that this was a good idea.

If Marinette couldn’t talk to Adrien without spontaneously combusting, maybe Chat Noir could help in some way? 

He couldn’t conduct his investigation as Chat Noir, because, if it really was Ladybug, she would be onto him and wouldn’t reveal anything. However, if he could get her talking, maybe he could somehow help with her ‘Adrien Anxiety’. Anyway, it was worth a shot.

Chat Noir’s stomach growled again as he got ready to leap across the road that separated the school from the bakery. Besides, he thought, grinning to himself, if he didn’t go over there, who was going to help her eat that plate full of cookies?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Before anyone asks, it is my strong belief that Adrien knows about Marinette's crush, just doesn't know how to deal with it.  
> I also believe that, despite how much he objects to Plagg's eating habits, Adrien would have a hard time controlling himself around the sugary goodness of cookies, especially after a night of running over rooftops. ;)


	4. Cookies and Crushes

Landing on her balcony, Cat Noir found himself face to face with a very startled Marinette.

“Chat Noir?!” she exclaimed.

“The one and only.” he replied with a bow.

“Err, what are you doing here?!” she squeaked.

He grinned. 

“Well I was in the neighbourhood, when I smelled the most delicious aroma.” 

He turned away from her so he could flex his muscles in the best light. 

“Where did wondrous scent lead me? Only to my favourite princess….”

Chat Noir saw her out of the corner of his eye, and froze. Was she mimicking him?

“You know; I have an excellent range of peripheral vision.”

Marinette’s hands snapped behind her back. 

“You didn’t seem to notice last time.” she mumbled.

Chat Noir sighed dramatically. 

“I’m deeply wounded, princess, that you would betray my trust like this.” he turned away from her, flinging his arm across his face.

Behind him, Marinette laughed. 

“I wish I could make it up to you,” she said, “but I guess not even cookies would cheer you up.”

He snapped around to face her again, and his stomach growled. He had almost forgotten how hungry he was. She laughed again.

“You may as well come in,” she said, walking toward her trapdoor, “I was going to eat them out here, but on second thoughts, it’s too cold.”

Chat Noir grinned. Phase One: Success. He had convinced her to share her cookies. 

It also didn’t hurt that he had been invited to come in. That would give him an opportunity to do a little snooping. Now all he had to do was figure out a way to bring up Adrien.

As he alighted the ladder to her room, Chat Noir realised it was going to be a lot easier than he had anticipated. Her walls were covered with him! This definitely confirmed his suspicions about her crush.

He cleared his throat. 

“Nice pictures.” He said slyly, gesturing to her walls. 

On reflection, he probably should have waited until she put the cookies down. As it was, they went flying everywhere when she jumped violently. Luckily, his quick reflexes allowed him to catch the plate and most of its contents.

“What, yeah, um, I…. really love fashion!” she managed, hands desperately grabbing her face. 

He chuckled.

“Last time I checked, even Gabriel Agreste didn’t have this many pictures of his son, and I saw most of his house when SimonSays attacked.”

Marinette sighed, and collapsed face first onto her chaise.

“Fine, you win. I have a crush on Adrien Agreste that’s so big it’s verging on stalkerish. Happy?”

He shrugged and munched on a cookie. Swallowing, he spoke; 

“Doesn’t bother me. Go for it.” He took another cookie. 

“Although,” he added as an afterthought, “You probably shouldn’t stalk him; that’s a little illegal.”

She groaned and rolled over onto her back. 

“I wish I could just ‘go for it’,” she complained. “But every time I try to talk to him, my crush makes me so nervous.”

Chat Noir smiled. She really was making this easy for him.

“Why don’t you get to know him first, and figure out your crush on him later?’’ He asked. “It might be easier if you just try to be friends to start off with.”

Marinette sat up, looking thoughtful. 

“Maybe…” she mused.

He stood up, brushing off crumbs.

“That’s all we have time for tonight.” 

He bowed. 

“Until we meet again.”

He was about to leap away, when he heard her call out from behind him.

“Wait, Alya would kill me if I didn’t try to get her an interview with you!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have a legitimate question.  
> How is it, that Marichat is the ship that somehow makes the least and most sense at the same time?


	5. The Start of the End

As he got out of the car and walked up the steps to school, Adrien was excited. Had Marinette taken on his advice from the previous night? Was she going to be more at ease, or just as nervous as ever? He was about to find out.

Inside the locker room, he spotted Marinette by Alya’s locker immediately, and made his way over. He was just in time to catch the end of their conversation. 

“…. amazing girl, I can’t believe you got me an interview! But I don’t understand; what was he doing at your house?”

“I don’t know, he said he came because he smelled food.”

“So he visited you to eat cookies and give relationship advice?”

“Apparently.”

Adrien smiled. Looks like she hadn’t suspected anything. That was Chat Noir alright, ever a mystery. He waved at the girls.

“Hi Alya, Marinette.” He greeted. “You’re here early.” he grinned, looking at Marrinette.

“Yeah, um I…” she started, before she remembered to breathe, and tried again. “Yeah, my alarm actually woke me up for once.”

He laughed. Wow, a full sentence with all the words in the right order. This really was progress. He decided to see how long it would last.

“What were you saying about cookies before?” he asked her, but it was Alya who answered him. Oh well, you can’t win every time. He turned to focus on her instead. She looked just about ready to burst. 

“Get this; Chat Noir turned up at Marinette’s house last night wanting cookies!” 

Yep. She was definitely excited. 

“That’s not even the best bit,” she continued, “Marinette convinced him to give me an interview! Isn’t she awesome?!”

Adrien had to agree with that. 

“Yeah.” He said, “The best.”

Now Marinette looked ready to burst. This conversation had been a step in the right direction, but he'd probably best leave it at that for the moment. He was going to need to be patient if he wanted to figure out the truth.

Adrien cleared his throat. 

“I’ve got to go to my locker before class.” he said, “I’ll see you guys later?” 

Marinette nodded happily, and he turned to go, almost missing Alya give Marinette a not-so-gentle nudge in the ribs with her elbow. 

“Wait, Adrien!” she squeaked, and he swung back around. 

“Yeah?” he asked, smiling down at her.

She took a deep breath. 

“Well, Alya was going to come to my place for lunch today and I was wondering if you wanted to come too and of course we can ask Nino as well just because we’re friends but we don’t get to spend much time together and I just thought that having lunch together would be a good way t-”

This was as far as she got before Alya nudged her again and she quickly shut her mouth.

Huh. Who knew Marinette could talk so much?

Adrien smiled at her again. 

“I’d love to, Marinette.”

Barely a word; to lunch date, Adrien thought as he walked away. Chat Noir really should write a book.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chat Noir's book:  
> 'Cat-uring Your Lady's Heart: A Super Hero's Guide to Romance'


	6. It All Comes Down to This

Adrien took a shaky breath. Across the park, Marinette waved, and started walking in his direction.

It had taken a lot of gentle prodding on his part, and a long time, but they had slowly gotten closer. 

That initial ‘lunch date’ had become a regular thing, and now it was just the two of them most of the time. He had been going over to her house more and more often, to play video games, eat cookies or just hang out.

He was fairly sure Ladybug had forgotten about her challenge by now. He almost had too. Instead, he had been caught up in trying to get closer to Marinette.

He was almost certain that she was the city’s spotted hero, but he no longer really cared. These days, it was enough that she was Marinette.

Even so, he had to know for sure, which is why he was meeting her at the park on a Saturday afternoon. He was finally going to do it. He was finally going to tell her he loved her. 

Quite possibly for the second time.

Marinette smiled when she reached him.

“Hi.” She said.

“Hi.” he breathed.

There was a moment of comfortable silence before she turned to him again.

“So…” she prompted, “what was it you desperately wanted to tell me?”

Adrien hesitated, licking his lips nervously. This was the moment of truth. 

He would have to be careful with what he said. He didn’t want to give away too much about his…. extra-curricular activities, just in case he was wrong about her. He tried not to think about the other reason he was nervous; that there was a chance he could be rejected again. Well, he thought, better start with the simple bit.

“Marinette,” he began, “I just wanted to say that… I love you.”

Marinette looked stunned. Adrien exhaled. That wasn’t so hard. Now for the confusing bit.

“There is a large possibility that I’ve already told you this. If I have you’ll know what I’m talking about, but that conversation isn’t the main reason I’m telling you this. I really do love you Marinette.”

Adrien held his breath. It felt good to get it all of his chest, but now he was more nervous than ever. He stared at Marinette expectantly. 

For a moment that felt like forever, all she did was stare back with a look of completely justified total confusion. Then, slowly, her expression morphed into understanding and disbelief.

“Is it…” she swallowed.

“Is it really you?”

Too petrified to speak, he just nodded. She started laughing.

“I can’t believe it!” she gasped, “You found me! You actually found me!”

Relieved, Adrien started laughing too.

“Didn’t I tell you I would?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fin.  
> Thank you for taking time to read something I randomly put on the internet.  
> Hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
